Wall-E and a New Belt

Pixar does it again with Wall-E. Go see it. With each new film the animation out does the last one. And each plot is just as brilliant. Would've thought you could get a feature film about a lonely trash compacting robot.

From a purely business angle, the soundtrack was thin on vocals with balance left to instrumentals. Not that it was a bad soundtrack, I just doubt it'll sell as well as previous sound tracks.

In other news I earned my blue belt in my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training! Yes, I was a bit surprised. Some of us squeaked through without having to do another test.

iPhone 2.0

I finally had a chance to watch Apple's latest keynote presentation from a couple weeks ago. This was a developer conference so it's a little dorky, but all geekery aside, take a look at the first section of the keynote. In it, you'll see some incredible software demos that will be ready for the iPhone 2.0 software release - via the iTunes App Store.

The software, ranging from games to medical imaging applications, is amazing! These applications aren't just shinnied down desktop programs. Instead, many are uniquely suited to the iPhone interface itself by taking advantage of the touch features and accelerometers.

Back from The Great Northwest

After nearly a week traveling around Portland, eastern Washington, and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, it's nice to be back baking in the humidity of sunny Florida. The weather was rather chilly for June. In fact, the locals are so fed up with the weather, they're referring to this month as Junuary. Of course, the day I headed back to the airport, it was started to warm up.

Portland is quite a contrast from Jacksonville. The Jacksonville city leaders might learn a thing or two about city planning if they were ever to take a visit. New construction projects are carefully integrated into the existing landscape - unlike the razed fields that mark a new housing project in much of the country.

The Coeur d'Alene resort was impressive. It's popular golf course with a famous floating (and moveable) island green was a treat! If only I played golf a little more regularly...

Dinner, Movie and a Shuttle Launch

We saw Sex and the City this afternoon. It was quite a packed theater, especially considering it was a 2:20 showing. Just about all the loose ends were neatly tied up in the 2+ hour run time, leaving very little room for a sequel. But I don't think the hard core fans would appreciate any open questions.

We left the theater just in time to catch the 5pm shuttle launch today. Skies were clear in all directions, so once we looked in the right direction, the exhaust trail was easy to see. Unfortunately, I didn't have the heavy duty camera gear on hand, but I did have the point n shoot in the glove box. I managed to catch one decent shot. That's why a smart photographer never goes anywhere without a camera.

It's a Girl!

Kind of a duplicate post from our family blog, oh well. Now the name search can begin!

Wii Fat

The Wii Fit game arrived yesterday. I just finished an initial fitness test and a few yoga poses. Most of my friends would agree that I'm in decent shape, but the Wii doesn't appear to be my friend. After entering my height, birth date (The Wii Balance Board has a built in scale), and the approximate weight of my clothes, a BMI (body mass index) of nearly 24 was returned. Oddly, that's just on the edge of normal - yes I better watch my weight. After a couple balance tests, the first run of my Wii Fit age was 43! Ouch.

I ran another test and made it down to 31 - much more acceptable.

After entering my swimming workout from earlier today into the fitness log, I went straight to the yoga. I did the first few very basic poses, one of which is simply breathing. Following along with the trainer (you can pick a male or female trainer), you work each pose while trying to hold a steady balance as indicated on the screen. The tree pose gave me a little trouble, "You're a little shaky." No kidding.

So I'll keep moving along with other forms of training in hopes of reaching my lofty goal of losing 3 pounds in a few weeks. We'll see how I do.

Tom Friedman for President

I'm tired of the political lies. We've got some serious issues to tackle. It's nice to see these issues out in the open. Thanks Tom.